Bryan quits Westlife

Westlife star Bryan McFadden confirmed today he is leaving the band to spend more time with his family.

The 24-year-old singer told a packed press conference in Dublin that the other members of the band were his four best friends and his departure was nothing to do with them.

"I just feel it's the right time to concentrate on my family and being at home as much as I can," he added.

Father of two Bryan said it had become very difficult to juggle life with the band and his family.

"It's a huge commitment and to be honest for the last year, especially since Lily was born, I haven't been able to commit 100% to Westlife and I haven't been able to commit 100% to my family," he said.

"It wasn't fair on either and I just felt it was the right time for me to leave and concentrate on my family."

Asked about his plans for the future, Bryan said he would try to be at home as much as he could and then see what happened.

He denied rumours that he planned to work with his wife Kerry, winner of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! as she already had a successful TV career ahead of her.

"It's been on my mind for about six months and me and the lads sat down and talked about it and reached this decision in the last few days," he added.

"The guys want me to be happy. My family are very important to me and they understand that.

"There's no point being in the band and not having 100% commitment so they respect my decision."

Sitting as a four-piece for the first time, the remaining band members expressed fears that fans would liken them to the Spice Girls or Take That and see this as the end.

"Westlife are a foursome from today onwards and that's it," said Shane, as they all wiped tears from their eyes.

They admitted Bryan's departure had been a complete shock but insisted no one would be replacing him.

"We are very, very sad about Bryan's decision but we have to struggle on, you know. We have to get up to the top of that mountain no matter what anybody says," said Kian.

"We have devoted our lives to this band and this is about passion. We love this band so much and all we want to do is continue."

He said the fast-approaching world tour would continue and the band would be as good as ever.

"We are going to get up on that stage in Belfast on March 29 and prove to everybody that we can do this," Kian added.

Shane likened the split to breaking up with a girlfriend after six years together.

"It's going to be hard, it's going to be weird for the first few months, but we have a job to do and we have fans out there who do want Westlife to stick together," he said.

"We are not the Spice Girls, we are not Take That, we have defied all the odds as a band, we have gone past our greatest hits, we have more number ones than most other bands."

Mark said his only fear was that people would see Bryan's departure as a negative.

"It's a very sad day for me and the rest of the lads but we are going to try and move on. There is no bad blood and that is not a lie," he stressed.

"We respect and understand Bryan's decision and we are going to go out there and make great music, and still go strong."

Kian said they were like a new band now and would treat their next release as their first single.

He said Bryan would always be a brother to them and the whole band wished him "all the success in the world".